‘A Day Without a Woman’ Rally Draws Hundreds to City Hall

State Senate President Kevin de Léon delivers opening remarks at the A Day Without a Woman rally in front of San Jose City Hall. (Photo by Vicente Estrada)

Some wore red in protest, some stayed home from work, others took to the streets and held a moment of silence for equal rights.

San Jose resident Telesia Manuleleua was one of many women across the globe Wednesday to attend rallies in honor of International Women’s Day. She held a small sign reading, “I can’t keep quiet,” as she maneuvered her way through a sea of people dressed in red at San Jose City Hall.

Several hundred people attended the rally Wednesday at San jose City Hall (Photo by Vicente Estrada)

A diverse crowd of several hundred came together in San Jose for the “A Day Without A Woman Rally,” which organized in opposition to Donald Trump’s administration while also supporting gender equality.

“My rights are being conquered by the government and I will not stand for that,” Manuleleua said. “Trump is impeding on all these women’s rights and that’s not acceptable.”

The rally kicked off to the tune of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land,” which has been a staple to the resistance movement. Women held signs reading “Kindness over fear,” “Women’s rights are human rights,” “Sluts for open borders,” and more signs that ranged between serious to tongue-in-cheek

Many people brought their own signs to Wednesday’s rally. (Photo by Vicente Serna)

“Just because you are women, know one thing, this great state of California stands behind you every step of the way,” said Kevin de Léon, president of the state Senate.

“I’m so proud to be a Californian,” de Léon continued. “Because on November 9th, Californians by a margin of millions, two to one, rejected the policy fueled by resentment, bigotry and misogyny.”

A handful of people wondered why de Léon, a man, would lead off speakers at a Women’s Day Rally, but the grumbling was short-lived. The rally focused on women’s rights as well as issues of immigration, LGBTQ rights, racism and healthcare.

County Supervisor Cindy Chavez and Gabrielle Antolovich, president of the Billy DeFrank LGBTQ Community Center were two of many speakers.

“I stand for equal pay, I stand for reproductive health rights, I stand for a voice on the job,” Chavez said. “I want girls to grow up knowing they have as much value as the boys do.”

Students from DCP El Camino Middle School’s RISEUP group spoke about their personal experiences as racial minorities. The group started with a reading of Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise.” Students then took turns sharing their own experiences.

“I live in a duplex with my mom,” said DCP student Isabel Gutierrez. “She came from Guadalajara, Mexico.” Gutierrez added that her mother supported her in joining RISEUP because she say her daughter’s passion. Another student shared a story of her mother getting fired from a job for being an immigrant.

Other speakers included representatives from Interfaith Family Bay Area, 100 Black Women of Silicon Valley and Orchard City Indivisible.

“A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side”
From “For What It’s Worth”, written by Steven Stills, released January 1967, performed by Buffalo Springfield.

With a population of 4 million plus in Santa Clara County and southern Alameda County, a mere few hundred people turned out to rally in SJ’s R2D2 Plaza. I guess Sergio Arau won’t be turning this into the subject of a follow up film. At least there were no reports of violence, looting, rioting, vandalizing, and burning that are the hallmarks of most “progressive” gatherings in the streets these days.

Men don’t oppress women any more than women oppress men. However, women’s rights have progressed while men’s rights have stagnated or arguably backslidden. When only men could register to vote, only men were required to register for the draft. Today both sexes can vote, but only men must register for the draft. Women are granted all the rights of a democracy without any of the burdens of potentially compulsive military service.

Women are more likely to be accepted into colleges and women earn the majority of advanced college degrees, Women are more likely to win child custody battles and they are allowed to discriminate against the opposite sex ruthlessly without social penalty. If women had to promise to provide for a man for a lifetime before he removed his veil and showed her his smile, would we think of this as a system of female privilege?

Men are the disposable gender. They are society’s sanctioned prostitutes but rarely worry about being used as such because all relationships for them work that way. Every day the miner, the firefighter, the construction worker, the logger, the soldier, the meatpacker, these men are prostitutes in the direct sense: they sacrifice their bodies for money and for their families. The male earns money that someone else, almost always a woman, spends. Men predominantly occupy all of the most hazardous professions and are much more likely to be killed at work than is a woman. Men don’t live as long as women and they have a much higher suicide rate.

This protest is “A Day without a Woman”??? How about a protest called “A Day without a Woman’s hands on My Paycheck”!!!

In anticipation of the standard, tiresome, Lysistrata, “not gettin’ any” reply (the usual shrill reply of the clueless feminist), let me assure them such is not the case. I’m just getting annoyed by the constant shrill whining from spoiled “vaginistas” with their unending, unjustifiable whining all the time.

Apparently scribbler Vincente Serna doesn’t have an editor. From his article above:

Gutierrez added that her mother supported her in joining RISEUP because she say her daughter’s passion.

Huh? Wait… What??

Next, Mr. Serna says:

Another student shared a story of her mother getting fired from a job for being an immigrant.

I suppose investigative reporting fizzled out with Woodward and Bernstein. But even a common, everyday ‘reporter’ working for SJI ought to clarify a statement like that with a question, such as: “Was she fired for being an illegal immigrant?”

That’s the real reason, no? What employer would fire someone for being a *legal* immigrant?

“My rights are being conquered by the government and I will not stand for that. Trump is impeding on all these women’s rights and that’s not acceptable.”

As usual, this foreign snowflake gives no specifics. What rights, exactly, are being “impeded” by our President? Which rights are being “conquered” by the government?

When Manuleleua says: “I will not stand for that,” the obvious question is, What is she going to do? Join ≈120 other whiners, and share mutual complaints?

Here’s reality, Manuleleua: The citizens of the United States have made it clear that they ‘will not stand’ for people from other countries presuming to decide they have the “right” to just waltz into this country and violate our laws every day they remain here illegally.

It’s interesting that their complaints never seem to end up in a court setting, where clarity and intent of the language are enforced by one side or the other. Then they would have to explain exactly what they mean by “immigrants”, and “rights”.

Following “Sluts for open borders” the President of the Cali State Senate—the man with the Irish first name and Spanish surname, Kevin de Léon, condescends to the gals:

“Just because you are women…” panders Kevin…

…this great state of California stands behind you every step of the way.”

But de Léon won’t ‘stand behind’ honest citizens. When de Léon said he was behind those pushing for open borders, he could have at least acknowledged the hard-bitten taxpayers who are forced to pay for the rising tidal wave of illegals pouring into our state from foreign countries. Instead, de Léon demonizes taxpaying California citizens as ‘bigots’ and ‘misogynists’.

Politicians like de Léon are pandering to foreigners over American citizens, but even so, they might think of saying “Thanks” once in a while to the taxpayers who are forced to foot the bill. But instead, they pander to foreign scofflaws.

So maybe at some point a California Donald Trump will come along and make things right…

…oh, I almost forgot. With the passage of Prop 14, only the ‘top two’ vote getters in the primaries (always Dems, as a result of ‘Motor Voter’, etc.) can be on the ballot for Governor. That’s our only “choice”: Tweedledee or Tweedledumber.

So de Léon and his ilk are free to continue confiscating the earnings of honest taxpayers, and funneling them into the pockets of illegals — who continue to illegally vote here in ever rising numbers.

California used to be an honest, well-governed state. No more. It’s dead, Jim.